Observations of a rookie

First, and for anyone who hasn't read any of my posts before, or to be clear so as to qualify where I come from, I am an experienced r/c hobbyist- albeit a long time from the game and not familiar with anything that flies outside of an old 2 channel glider that anyone with 5 minutes and some give a **** could keep in the air.

Should you be a new pilot, or just into this game (perhaps sold like me on the Pantom because of some penchant for photography?) and maybe do not have the maturity, or have too much pride to openly bare your soul as yours truly does here, then let me save you some face and time (and maybe money?) by posting up what I have learned:

First- flying in r/c is nothing like driving in r/c.
Ground control is so much easier- there is only really 2 planes to work with... once I got in the air, I quickly learned that while the Phantom flies super easy- true control (and it matters when taking film and pics) is only achieved with true flying skills... and some of these people out here that have mastered it are very savvy in their skill set. I suggest everyoe who is not an actual experienced pilot get a micro or nano quadcopter for practice. I initially could not gain any success with my Hubsan. I was humbled despite my seeming proficiency with the Phantom- but there is a lot of space up there, and gps and all the crutches that DJI has built into it offer a deceptive experience.

I have almost 3 weeks in with the Hubsan x4, and now over a week with the new ProtoX... and I am buzzing my little 10x15 foot office and landing them where I want, not hitting walls, and playing with yaw and performing pirouettes at will... altitude drops and behavior in flight are smoothing out, and if I had more than 8 feet to my ceiling, I would try to do flips. The weather is so bad out I cannot even take the little quads outside to practice- so my space has been very small- but that is going to make me a better pilot in the end- I am focused. I know this will translate into a far more superior set of images and footage once I get out into real situations where finesse and flying skill will require a steady and adept hand.

Do not underestimate the need to be a good pilot, and the expense or investment of time and money on a good 6 axis micro quad is worth it. Some of the best advice I got here after joining was reinforcing that suggestion from a friend who is an experienced r/c pilot.

Secondly: Do not blow off balancing and tuning- while the Phantom will fly with uneven props and all manner of off kilter pandemonium- if you want the best response, and the best performance, and the most life from the Phantom, then be sure to establish, and adhere to some sort of regime and check both before, and after flight. I could have saved myself several hours of bad footage, a little money, and whole lot of frustration if I had been more diligent in front end dynamics when I got back into r/c and got a Phantom- I have a bad habit of wanting to fly before I can walk, right?

Third, and last: Read. Read some more, and when you have read all of that? Go back and reread some of those things.
I went down a few garden paths all due to reading something, not verifying it (not to mention not understanding it properly in the first place) and then moving forward with a bad plan and having to go back to square one. Do not allow your enthusiasm to get ahead of your goals. Learning how to fly extreme, and setting up your copter for insane flight characteristics is not the mindset you want if you are building a photography platform- even though some factors correlate.

I am now absolutely addicted to r/c again- and I am laser beam focused on the quads. I pulled out my old Thunder charger, and blew off the dust of some boxes not touched in almost 5 years... on a side note, anyone looking for an absolutely insane killer 1/18 scale full on race stadium truck? Team Losi with a Mamba? .... I mean- I have had it clocked at over 40mph and it HAS to have a wheelie plate to keep the front wheels on the ground so it will go straight.

Anyway- the workbench is getting put back up, the tools are being gathered and about the only difference between my old set up and the new is the center work table I am building that is positively level so I can tune the micro copters, and set up the imu on the Phantom- the other aspect to the workspace is no routers, magnets, or emi (or even cli) is present, and it is a/c and dehumidified - thus a clean environment for electronics and compass work.

Thanks for reading this, and if this post makes you say, "Duh *******" then awesome, as that means you were smarter than I was before getting down with the sickness.... let the bodies hit the floor.

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